


But he talks like a gentleman

by fondlelarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, background ziam - Freeform, lots of drunk!Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-13
Updated: 2013-06-13
Packaged: 2017-12-14 09:06:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/835153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fondlelarry/pseuds/fondlelarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Seriously.” Liam stays silent again, so Louis takes it as his cue to continue. “I had a few too many drinks, ate a bad kebab, rang a bunch of doorbells till someone let me in, vomited in his toilet, stole his orange juice and crashed on his sofa. He woke me up with breakfast though, so I’d say it’s alright.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	But he talks like a gentleman

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from 'When you were young' by The Killers.

Louis should have listened to Liam.  
Liam is smart, he told Louis not to get too drunk.  
   
Louis didn’t listen to Liam though.  
  
  
But to be fair; it’s not really completely the alcohol’s fault.  
Some of it is, he knows very well he shouldn’t have had those three tequila’s after those four beers and that one strawberry daiquiri, but he was hanging out with some people at his new work place and he wanted to keep up with them to make a good impression.  
  
It worked as well, they had a lot of fun, and he wasn’t even the drunkest one when they parted.  
  
He wasn’t even _that_ drunk, like he could walk straight and see straight, though he felt a little out of it.  
But then, while walking back home at two am, he realized that he was really hungry, like _really fucking hungry_ , and he figured kebabs are good and Paolo’s was open.  
It was a match made in heaven.  
  
Except it really wasn’t.  
  
  
  
Louis is a man who is proud to be able to hold his alcohol.  
He rarely vomits, his memory is always there, at least after some time, and he never spends the next day hungover.  
However, Louis’ stomach apparently can not hold his kebab, because right now it feels like a toy boat in a hurricane, and yeah. He’s fairly sure he’s gonna vomit.  
  
  
The things is; when he left to go to uni, he promised his mum that he would _not_ become the kinda student who gets shitfaced and pukes on the sidewalk.  
He’s held that promise for over a year and a half, and he’ll be damned if he breaks it now.  
  
He’s only ten minutes away from his flat, but as those ten minutes turn into eight, his stomach starts rolling more, and his throat is burning with acid and.. there’s no way he’ll make it all the way home.  
  
  
  
He’s in a neighborhood that’s filled with small flats, most who are owned by students, and he figures one of them will pity him enough to allow him in to puke.  
Hopefully.  
  
At least there wont be any elderly couples who’ll have heart attacks and die.  
  
  
He walks over to the closest doorway, and simply presses each of the eight doorbells.  
The nausea swells in his chest as he waits for someone to buzz him in.  
When what feels like an eternity has passed, and no one has answered, he repeats the procedure.  
It’s like his belly is certain that it’ll get its release soon, curling and looping, his mouth filling with saliva, while Louis tries his best to swallow it down.  
  
Then the speakers crack and someone says “Hello?”  
  
“Hi, um, you don’t know me. I’m drunk and ate a kebab and it was bad and I don’t wanna throw up on the street may I borrow your toilet please?” The words are rushed and frantic, and he takes a deep breath after.  
  
“Oh, okay, sure. Third floor.” The door buzzes, and Louis practically sprints up the stairs.  
  
  
A door opens just as he’s running up the last steps, and he hurries in as a voice tell him ‘Down the hall and first on the right’.  
He kicks off his shoes on the way, not giving a fuck where they land, before he finally kneels in front of the toilet and hurls.  
  
Louis never was a quiet vomiter.  
  
When he finishes the first round, knowing very well that there’ll be a second, the other boy is standing in the doorway. Not that Louis can actually see him, but he can feel his presence, and it’s confirmed when the boy speaks.“Do you need me to get you anything?”

Louis shakes his head and waves his hand in a dismissive manner, he can already feel the saliva rushing to his mouth again, and spits three times.

“Alright. Um, there’s a key on the kitchen counter, just lock up and put it under the doormat when you leave?” Louis nods, half focusing on what he’s saying, and half trying to make the swirling in his stomach slow down, because he really, _really_ hates throwing up.  
  
It doesn’t work though, of course it doesn’t, and he goes through two more rounds before he feels better.  
He’s emptied his stomach of all its contents by now, and he feels drained of energy, but at least he’s not nauseated anymore.  
  
  
He takes a few breaths before he stumbles up on shaky feet and walks over to the sink. After splashing some water in his face and rinsing his mouth, he finally walks out of the bathroom, turning off the lights as he goes back into the combined living-kitchen-hall-room.  
  
Right, so there is a key on the coffee table.  
He walks over to the couch, which has a small table in front of it. It has a couple of remotes and a tinplate with some black stones and purple candles, but other than that, it’s empty.  
  
The sofa looks comfy though.  
It’s big and brown, and it has a corner-loveseat-thingy, and it looks so, so much better than the shitty, red stonehard sofa that he and Liam shares.  
It’s soft as well, he finds out when he pokes it.  
Soft and mushy but still a little firm.  
Like a boob.  
  
There’s a shelf underneath the table, so Louis sits down on the floor to have a look.  
He finds schoolbooks, and a playstation remote and a notepad and a couple of pens, but there’s no key.  
  
He sighs heavily, looking over the things one more time, and then decides that he needs some painkillers before he does anything else.  
  
  
  
When he gets into the kitchen, which is kinda hidden behind a wall, but kinda not, he finds a glass of water, two painkillers and a key on the otherwise empty kitchen counter.  
He rolls his eyes as he picks up the glass and takes a few sips, emptying the rest into the sink.  
  
He really hates it when people give him the wrong instructions.  
  
Another thing he really hates is swallowing pills with water, so he opens the fridge and takes the orange juice in there, emptying it in his glass.  
When the pills are down, and the juice is gone, he rinses his glass and the empty juice container, and feels only a bit bad about not leaving any for the guy’s breakfast.  
  
Maybe he can try and remember the address and come back with some juice tomorrow.     
  
  
Right, so there’s a key on the coffee table aka the kitchen counter and he’s supposed to put it in the mailbox.  
  
The problem, though, is that he doesn’t know this guy’s name, and he doesn’t want to leave it in the wrong box.  
A quick look tells him that there’s no mail with any name on the counter or under the table, and when he opens the front door, there’s no name, nor number, attached to it.  
  
There’s a doormat in front of the door, and Louis briefly wonders if he should leave it under there, but then the guy probably won't find it, and that’s not very nice.  
He’s not gonna leave the apartment unlocked either, as that is obviously not safe.  
  
That would be a shitty thank-you, leaving the flat open for anyone to walk in and rob, or like, murder him or something.  
  
  
He ends up locking the door from the inside, putting the key on the coffee table, _where it was supposed to be_ , and crawl onto the sofa, snatching the blanket from the armrest in the process.  
  
  
  


When Louis wakes up, cuddled up in a blanket on a sofa that doesn’t smell, nor feel, like his own, his first thought is _who did I shag?_  
Next comes the _where am I?_   followed closely by _the key was not on the coffee table!_  
  
The place smells like bacon, and there’re some clanking noises coming from the kitchen.  
His head is facing the wrong way though, and he stays like that, listening as footsteps comes closer and something is sat down on the coffee table.  
  
“Good morning.” A deep voice says, and Louis feels like responding with a ‘fuck off’, but he figures that would be rather rude. Besides, the guy has already walked away.  
Instead, he turns his head to see two plates of eggs and bacon and toast in front of him.  
Louis sits up, his stomach growling at the thought of food, and he picks a strip of bacon with his fingers and swallows it down.  
The boy returns, two glasses of water and two forks in his hands, and he hands Louis one of each.

“I’d offer you orange juice, but..” Louis feels his cheek warm up slightly.

“Yeah, sorry bout that.” He replies, and the boy smirks, but shrugs.

“Feeling better?” He asks instead, and Louis really hopes he remembered to flush down after he puked last night.

“Yeah, thanks.”  
  
  
  
They eat in silence for a while, until the boy reaches for the remote control and turns on the TV.

“Wanna watch a movie or something?” He asks, as if Louis is not a complete stranger who rudely woke him up in the middle of the night, stayed overnight without being invited and then stole his food.

“Actually, I should-” He intends to end that sentence with some kind of version of ‘get out of here’, but one look at the boys tiny pout makes him grab for his phone and instead say “-just call my roommate and let him know I’m alive.”  


He has four missed calls, all from Liam, and when he calls him back, he picks up after one ring.

“Morning!” Louis says cheerfully.

“Oh my god! Louis! Where are you?!”

“Right now? Sitting on a strangers sofa and eating his food.” Liam doesn’t answer, so Louis looks over at the boy, smiling when he sees that he has a grin on his face.

“Seriously, Louis.” Liam finally replies, probably after taking some time to gather himself.

“Seriously.” Liam stays silent again, so Louis takes it as his cue to continue. “I had a few too many drinks, ate a bad kebab, rang a bunch of doorbells till someone let me in, vomited in his toilet, stole his orange juice and crashed on his sofa. He woke me up with breakfast though, so I’d say it’s alright.”

“You’re.. You’re actually serious.” Liam concludes after another moment of silence.

“Yes.”

“Louis.. I mean, do you understand how dangerous that could’ve been? He could.. he could’ve hurt you, or-”

“He didn’t though. He’s very nice, promise! …He _did_ give me some non-descriptive pills but..” The boy next to him laughs at that, drowning out the words Liam sputters out, but he quickly composes himself.

“-you even know his name?” Louis keeps looking at the boy and makes sure to keep eye contact.

“Of course I know his name, Liam, his name is-”

“Harry.”

“-Harry.”

“Did he just tell you that?”

“No.”

“Louis..”

“ _Liam_.” Liam sighs deeply, and Louis can’t help rolling his eyes.

“Just.. Text me when you’re on your way back. And pay for the juice you stole.”

“Off course I will, I do have manners.”

“Right.”

“See you later! Love you, bye!” He hangs up before Liam get’s a chance to reply.  


“Right, so movie then?” He asks, and the boy, _Harry_ , nods and opens up a folder for a memory stick that must be stuck in his telly.  
They settle on watching Brave, since Harry hasn’t seen it yet, and Louis quite likes it, and just as the movie starts, Louis turns to him and says “I’m Louis by the way.”, making Harry laugh.  
  
  
  
  
  
After the movie is done, Louis asks Harry what his plans for the day is, to which Harry answers that he doesn’t really have any.  
They decide to go grocery shopping, which is, well kind of a plan, but not really exciting, and then Harry tells him that, even though he’s lived here for six months, he doesn’t have a lot of good friends here.

“Like, I have friends, but no one really close? Like most people I’ve met already have their group of friends here, and I always feel like I’m intruding.” He says casually, shrugging.  
  
Louis adds one orange juice and one apple juice to the cart.

“Apple is my favorite, gotta make sure you have some.” He explains, making Harry smile shyly at the ground. Louis drags him over the beer then, picks out a couple of six packs.  
“We’re going out tonight.” He informs him, as Harry turns them towards the dairy. “You, me, Liam, and a few of my other mates, yeah? We always add new people to our group of friends, you’ll fit right in.”  
  
  
He calls Liam and makes him arrange it with some other friends.  
It’s well after noon on a Saturday, so most people are probably busy, but there’s not much to do besides go out to one of the few clubs close by, so someone’s bound to be available to meet up with them at least.  
  
  
  
Louis follows Harry home, and then he’s even nice enough to help him put the groceries away.  

Shortly after, around three, Liam calls and says that some people are coming over at seven, so Louis sends Harry in the shower and then goes through his closet to find him something to wear.  
He doesn’t ask for permission, he never does really, and he only realizes that this might be considered a bit rude when Harry comes back in wearing nothing but a towel, and raises his eyebrows at him.

“What?” He asks because ignorance is the best defense or something. Harry chuckles and shakes his head.

“Finding anything then?” He asks, walking behind Louis and doing something that sounds like pulling out a drawer.

“Do these even fit?” Louis counters, turning around with a pair of black jeans that he thinks might belong to a girl. With long legs. A model.  
Harry is pulling on boxers, and he catches some dark hair, and what might be the start of his cock, before the fabric is pulled all the way up.

“Yes.” Harry says, so Louis naturally tells him to prove it.  
  
  
They do indeed fit, and Louis is slightly impressed.  
Louis is the king of tight jeans, to be honest, he has many pairs and he even has to lie down to fit into one of them.  
But this, this is a whole new level of tightness.

He thinks it might have something to do with Harry being so tall and broad shouldered, and then he squeezes into this tight piece of fabric, and his hips are like the size of one of Louis’ thighs.  
Okay, so not really, but _really_ , his bum is tiny and cute and his shoulders are wide and muscular and it’s a great combination.  
He likes it.    
  
Harry does a small spin for him, and Louis kinda wants to shove him down on his bed and tear them back off.  
He stears his eyes off him instead, and looks for a t-shirt.

He can’t really concentrate so he just picks a white one and throws it at Harry, and Harry pulls it on quickly.  
  
  
It’s cold outside, being mid January and all, so Louis contemplates giving Harry a hoodie to wear as well.  
He figures there’s really no need, cause both his and Harry’s apartments are warm, and so will whichever club they end up at be, but he ruffles through the thick sweaters anyway.  
Curiosity will probably be the death of him, but oh well.

“I don’t need anything else.” Harry says casually, and Louis is a second away from turning away and closing the door when he spots a white woollen sweater and he halts.  
It lies in-between the other ones, but it’s thicker and probably fluffier, so Louis pulls it out and unfolds it to have a good look.  
  
He can feel eyes watching him, but Harry doesn’t say anything, so Louis pulls the sweater over his head.  
It’s long, almost covering his bum, and the sleeves fall just short of his fingers and he decides then and there that he’ll have to keep Harry around, cause he’s definitely stealing this sweater.  
  
  
  
  
Getting his coat to fit over the sweater is rather difficult, as Louis likes tight-fitting clothes, but he manages, though his jacket looks two sizes too small, and he’s too warm.  
  
Harry gives him these sideway glances while they’re walking over to his flat, but he pretends not to notice as he pops a few buttons open to try and cool himself down a bit.  
  
  
  
  
As soon as they get inside the apartment complex, he shreds the jacket.  
Harry sniggers, which Louis completely ignores, before leading him up to second floor and down the hall.  
  
  
Liam is in the kitchen, cleaning, when they get there.  
He greets them wearing the pink wash gloves, with pink fuzz on the top, that Louis got as a joke when he first moved out, and Harry doesn’t even bat an eyelid.

“You’re more than welcome to help.” Liam says, and Louis is about to decline, but then Harry just picks up the dish cloth and starts drying stuff, so Louis sighs deeply and heavily and puts the things Harry dries back in the cabinets.  
  
When they’re done, Liam goes to wipe down the benches and table and then he suggests that maybe Louis could vacuum the living room, and Louis says that he has to take a shower and get ready, and Liam says that _so does he_.

“Well, I’m all ready and dressed, so why don’t I do it?” Harry suggests, as if teenagers normally volunteer for these kinds of things, and Louis closes his eyes for a second, just to talk himself out of banging his head against the fridge, and then says that Liam can take the first shower, while he and Harry cleans the living room.  
  
The smile Liam sends him is so warm and pleased, yet _so_ smug, and Louis glares as hard as he can at his retracting back.  
  
  


When Louis steps into his bedroom, boxers on and toweldrying his hair as he walks, he finds Harry looking trough his closet, even though he apparently has already laid out a outfit for him.  
It consists of his clear blue jeans and a black band-shirt.  
  
He rolls his eyes, and fluffs through his hair a few more times, before throwing the towel over his desk chair and slipping into the clothes.  
  
When he looks at Harry, who is now sitting on his bed, he notices a pink color high on his cheeks. “What?” He asks, for a moment wondering if he has an awkward boner, and looking down to reassure himself that he doesn’t.  
  
“Um, I went to find you socks. And I looked in the bottom drawer, cause I figured they’d be there.” Louis joins Harry in blushing then, his gaze falling to the floor, as he doesn’t know where else to look.  
Because yeah, the five pair of socks that he _does_ own, are indeed in his bottom drawer, and so is his condoms, lube, vibrator and a few other toys that occasionally comes in handy.

“Oh. Well, that’s awkward.” Louis says lamely, but it makes Harry snort out a laugh.

“Didn’t take you for a handcuffs kinda guy.”

“Well, I’m usually not the one in them though.”

“Yeah, that makes more sense.” Harry says, nodding in agreement as if he actually knows Louis well enough to work out what his kinks are.  
  
  
Louis decides to drop the subject, and instead pulls out his hair mousse, squirting a generous glob into his palm and running it through his fringe.  
  
He usually wears a quiff when he goes out, but that requires blow-drying his hair and using hair gel, and it takes a lot more time and effort than just brushing some mousse in his natural hairdo with his fingers. It smells of artificial raspberries, and the container is pink, and basically it’s a woman’s brand, but his mum uses it and he stole it once and it just works better than the manly one he had, so.  
  
Once he’s done, he rubs his hands together and riffles through the rest of his hair with the tiny amount that’s left, even though he knows it doesn’t have any effect on his hair at all.    
  
“I prefer your hair like this.” Harry says, suddenly standing behind him, dragging his fingers up the back of his head. “Smells nice as well.” He adds, and Louis leans into his touch automatically, until the doorbell rings, signalling the arrival of their guests.  
  
  


 

Louis is halfway down his first beer when Harry leans into his neck. “Don’t get too drunk, we don’t want a reenactment of what happened yesterday, now do we?” Louis scowls at him and gulps down a couple of mouthfuls of beer in spite, making Harry giggle.  
  
  
  
  
  
Louis is on his fourth beer when people start talking about leaving sometime soon.  
By experience he knows it’ll take about half an hour before that actually happens, though.  
  
There’s seven people in their flat, three on the couch, one in an armchair, one on the arm of said armchair, and then he himself is sitting on the floor talking to a friend of Isaac's.  
They did introduce themselves, but Louis has absolutely no memory of what his name is.  
  
He is nice though, and he talks a lot, so he doesn’t even notice that Louis only hears half of what he’s saying.  
Louis grants most of his attention to Harry, or more precisely, to watch Harry talk to Jessica.  
  
 _Jessica_ maybe, kinda, sorta has a thing with Eric, which is the only reason why she even spends time with their group of friends.  
However, Eric’s not even here, which, _apparently_ , means that it’s hunting season.    
  
  
It all started when Jessica arrived, a bottle of wine in hand.  
The wine bottle turned out to be her weapon of seduction, combined with a unnaturally pink glossy pout, and a whiny voice going ‘I need a strong man to open the bottle for me.’  
  
Harry had, for some extremely stupid reason, fallen into her trap, opening the bottle with a smile, which in return earned him a kiss on the cheek.  
Louis had, off course, paid attention, and seconds later walked over with a wet napkin to wash off the remains of her sticky lip gloss.  
  
  
Seeing as the smile Louis got from wiping away the lip gloss was bigger than the one she got for leaving it there, Jessica decided to up her game.  
  
With huffs and puffs and sighs, she exclaimed that the wine was not as good as the brand she usually got, but she was never one to throw food away, and ‘Harry would you be a dear and share this bottle with me?’.  
  
  
Harry does, off course he does, even gives Jessica one of his beers to make it up to her.  
He sits at the end of the sofa, and she sits in the armchair, ranting about this and that, Louis doesn’t pay attention, all he hears is _whinewhinewhine_.  
Her boobs are up and about, and her blonde hair gets stuck in her stupid lip gloss, which she reapplies every five minutes because it all gets left on the glass every time she takes a sip of wine.  
  
  
“Excuse me.” Louis tells Isaac’s friend as he gets up without waiting for an answer. At least he was nice enough to wait till he had finished his sentence.  
  
It’s just that he’s had it up to _here_ with Jessica’s giggles and hair flips and batting eyelashes and stupid overflowing boobs. Louis found Harry first, so if anyone’s gonna flirt with him, it’s him.  
  
Which is why, in his true rightfulness, he walks over to Harry and straddles him on the couch.  
  
  
“Hi Louis.” Harry says with a smile, his hands falling to his waist. Louis smiles back and angles himself a little to the left to block more of Jessica’s view.

“Hello Harry. Are you having fun?”

“Yeah. Thank you.” Harry says honestly, his thumb pressing a little firmer into Louis’ hip at the words. Louis is torn between being happy that Harry’s having fun, and being disappointed that Harry’s having fun without him. _With_ Jessica.  
  
“How are you feeling? Have you been eating?” Louis is honestly surprised by the question, and he knows it shows on his face when Harry tightens his hold even more.

“Yeah, like four slices.” He says, and Harry nods.

“Good, just, no kebab tonight, right? So maybe you should have another slice before we leave?”

“No, I’m good. I think we’re going to a pub first, I’ll get some fries or something.”

“Alright, do you want to drink a glass of water?” Louis rolls his eyes, and then looks pointedly at him.

“I’m not that drunk, really, and I can hold my liquor. I just couldn’t hold that kebab.” Harry smiles, the small frown in his forehead evening out, and his grip loosening.    
  
He replies with a simple ‘alright then.’, and then the music is turned off and people starts putting their shoes and jackets on.  
  
  
  
The walk to the bar is short, and Louis spends most of it talking to Alan on the phone, which is annoying, cause he’d rather talk to Harry.

“Yeah, we’re meeting Michael and some of his friends at Crane Tavern for a few beers and then we’ll meet you guys at Blush after.” He listens as Alan tells his friends, and takes a swig at the beer bottle that’s handed to him, before sending it to the person next in line.  
He has to reassure him three times that he’ll send a text once they’re heading towards Blush, and no he won't forget, before they hang up.  
  
When Louis sees that Liam and Harry are walking together, chatting and laughing, he quickly lets go of his previous plan, and strikes up a conversation with Isaac instead.  
  
  
As soon as they enter Crane, Harry grabs his arm and drags him to the bar and orders two beers and a large portion of fries.  
Louis rolls his eyes playfully, making Harry blush and then knock their hips together, and they only wait a few more minutes before it’s all placed in front of them, and Harry is paying.  
  
Their friends have all gathered in three booths on the left side of the bar, and Louis quickly locates Liam, heading towards him.  
He halts, however, when he sees that Jessica has strategically placed herself in the very same booth.  
His need to get Harry away from her surpasses his urge to join Liam, so he passes them and joins the one that Michael and Isaac and his friend is sitting in instead, smiling smugly at himself while he imagines Jessica’s disappointed look.  
  
Louis gives Michael a fist bump, and Harry shakes his hand and introduces himself.  
He had seen him talking to Isaac a bit earlier, so they just smile at each other, and then he turns to his friend and goes “Niall, right?” and Louis is extremely thankful that Harry has a better memory than him.  
  
They stay there for a little over an hour, consuming a couple of beers and another large portion of fries - as the other boys wanted some too - and then Niall insists on them all having a shot before they head over to Blush.  
  
Louis is pleased that Harry hasn’t talked to Jessica at all since they left the flat, though she has tried to get attention, laughing loudly every five minutes and walking past their table three times to go to the loo.

They do tequilas, which makes Louis’ throat itch a little, but he doesn’t feel sick after, so it’s all good.

He remembers to text Alan as they get up, and somehow that makes him unable to walk properly, but Harry catches his arm as he stumbles.  
Louis deliberately stumbles once more, causing Harry to wind his arm around his waist, and Louis leans onto him till they reach the club.  
  
  
After steadily walking up to the bouncer and showing his I.D, he turns to find Harry with a knowing smile on his lips, and it makes his stomach twist pleasantly.  
  
  
  
The club is crowded, the air thick and the temperature high.  
Once inside, Louis looses track off everyone but Harry, so he joins their arms to make sure he doesn’t loose him as well, and drags him to the bar.  
  
The bar-area is full as well, people shouting and waving their money at the three bartenders who are running around to please the crowd.  
It’s in situations like this that Louis truly appreciates his size, as he quickly sneaks in between people and under arms until he’s at the front.  
He orders two rum and cokes, and they’re placed in front of him in seconds.  
  
“I’m impressed!” Harry shouts into his ear once he makes it back, making Louis smile brightly.  
  
They end up in the upstairs seating area having their drinks.  
It’s crowded there as well, but it’s not as warm as it is on the dance floor, and the sound level makes it possible to actually talk so there’s that.  
  
  
  
It’s not long till they make their way to the dance floor.  
  
Louis simply said dance, and Harry nodded in agreement, and that was that, really.  
He figures being bold and honest, or whatever, is the best way, so he drags Harry into the crowd and then turns his back to him and puts his hands on Harry’s hips as he starts to dance. grind. whatever.  
  
He let’s out a relived breath when Harry dances up against him, and lets his hands drop as soon as Harry’s arms circle him.  
The chances of Harry dancing with him like this if he’s not actually interested are slim, so he counts it as a win.  
  
  
They dance for a while, and Louis is about to suggest they go get another drink when he spots Liam in the crowd.  
He’s pretty sure his jaw drops, because Liam, innocent, _straight_ Liam has a boy grinding up against him, face pressed into his neck, and, and okay, so he looks a tad lost and uncomfortable but his hands are around the boys waist nonetheless, and he is moving to the beat.    
  
“I’ll be right back!” He shouts in Harry’s ear, and Harry says something and points to the bar, so Louis just nods, and hopes they’ll find each other again.  
He walks over to where Liam is, and pokes his shoulder.  
  
Liam startles, which makes the boy poke his head out from Liam’s neck, and he’s gorgeous, is what he is.  
He’s glaring at Louis though, a predatory look in his eyes, which he quite frankly has no right to, since Louis had Liam first.  
  
He completely ignores they guy, and raises his eyebrows at Liam, who looks sheepish and tries, but fails, to shrug nonchalantly.  
  
After a small staring competition, Liam sighs and rolls his eyes, before leaning over and yelling something in the guys ear.  
He sends a few more fatal stares at Louis, before he nods and pulls out a pack of cigarettes, waving them towards the exit, and then leans in and kisses the corner of Liam’s mouth.  
Liam stares after him with wide eyes, before turning to give Louis the same look.  
  
Louis snorts and tugs him up the stairs.  
  
  
“Okay, what the fuck was that??” Louis asks as soon as they find a quiet corner. Liam stutters and his cheeks blossom with color, and Louis has to bite back a laugh, because damn he looks lost. Instead, he puts his hands on Liam’s shoulders to ground him, or something, it seems to work anyway.  
  
“I, um, I didn’t mean to?” Liam finally responds.  
  
“How the fuck to you accidentally end up with a guy grinding on you? Because excuse me but you’ve told me that you’re straight, and if you’ve been lying to me all this time I’m extremely offended!” Liam’s eyes widen, and he starts to sputter again, so Louis cuts him off. “Not only because you lied, but also because you’ve rejected me all these times, and what, am I not pretty enough for you?”   
  
Okay, so _all_ these times may be an exaggeration, it was once, and they’d just moved in together and Louis was drunk but _still_ , rejection is rejection!    
  
“No! I.. he asked me to dance and I said no, and he was insisting, and I was like ‘I’m not really interested’ and he said okay, and instead bought me a few beers to keep me company, and then he just dragged me out on the dance floor and… I don’t know?”  
  
“Okay.. I’d like to think that you actually wouldn‘t like.. have sex with someone because you‘re too nice to say no, so let me ask you this. Do you like him, Liam? Did you mind him being all over you?” He gives him a serious stare, and Liam’s cheeks turns the brightest color of red, even more red than that one time he walked in on Louis giving someone a blow job, and Louis tries his best to hold back a smirk.  
  
He definitely fails though.  
  
“Liam. Liam. Liam.” He says, shaking his head, and then follows up with a couple of tuts, just because.  
Liam has the decency to look ashamed, and Louis’ pretty sure this is the most fun he’s had in years.. days, at least.  
  
“I’m not.. It’s like.. I didn’t..” Liam looks like he’s honest to God about to cry out of frustration, so Louis sighs, dropping the act, and instead pulls Liam into a hug.  
  
“Babe, I’m just playing you, and a bit shocked, but like, I’m gay, remember? I’m not gonna be disappointed in you for finally seeing the beauty of men.”  
  
  
Liam takes a few deep breaths against Louis’ neck before he pulls back. His eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he pouts a little. “But I don’t understand. I’ve never been attracted to guys, I mean sure, I can tell if a dude is generally attractive, but _I’m_ not attracted.”  
  
“But you’re attracted to him.” Louis states, because it’s not a question. Liam nods anyway.  
  
“He’s like.. pretty?”    
  
“He is.” Louis confirms, because, well, he is.  
  
“But I don’t know what to do?”  
  
“Just kiss him, I mean lips are lips, you’ve got experience with kissing. No one expects you to fuck him tonight Liam.”  
  
“I think he might?” Louis is about to protest against that, but then I realizes that yeah, he probably does.  
  
“Then you tell him it’s not happening, that you’ve never been with a boy, I mean, he’ll understand.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Yeah. But if he offers to blow you, you better fucking say yes, cause I’ve told you a million times, boys does it better!” Liam rolls his eyes, but he smiles slightly anyway.  
  
“And as I’ve told you a million times, you’ve never gotten one from a girl, so you wouldn’t know.”  
  
“And as I’ve told you, like, two million times, it doesn’t matter as some things are self-explanatory! Also I’ve offered to share notes with you, but you’ve always refused.”  
  
  
Liam seems like he doesn’t even wanna dignify that with an answer, which is rather unfair, cause they’re supposed to be best-ish mates, and like, honesty is important or something.  
  
Instead, he looks out at the crowd and apparently spots the dude, because he gnaws on his lower lip, and then waves a little, making him notice them.  
  
  
The boy walks towards the stairs, and when he’s close enough he smiles at Liam and then glares at Louis again.

“I don’t think he likes you?” Liam says, and Louis snorts.  
  
“He thinks I’m competition, love.”  
  
“You’re not competition.” He says to Louis, and then the boy reaches them, and Liam points at Louis. “He’s not competition.” He repeats, and the boy tries to hide a smug smile and fails. “Also, I’ve never liked a boy and if you want to kiss that’s fine, I know that but-” Louis figures it’s best to leave then, simply to spare himself from secondhand embarrassment.  
  
“Bye darling, see you at home!” He says, cutting Liam’s ramble off and kissing him on the cheek and then he adds and ‘I love you’ while glancing at the boy, because two can play that game.  
  
And if he feels a glare attached to his back as he walks away with an exaggerated sway of his hips, well, it’s totally worth it.  
  
  
  
  
  
It seems that while Louis was busy giving Liam a pep talk, Harry has vanished.  
  
Louis searches by going to the bar and order a couple of shots.  
They burn down his throat and goes straight to his head, and he grabs the edge of the bar when the room spins for a few seconds.  
  
“Harry!” He shouts, as if his voice is louder than the music.  
The girl next to him looks at him, and Louis tells her to ‘fuck off, you’re not Harry’ and she rolls her eyes at him and scoffs, and doesn‘t leave.  
  
People are rude.  
  
Louis orders two more shots, but the bartender ignores him, even when Louis jumps up and down.  
Louis hates being ignored, so he grabs someone else’s shot out of their hand and drinks it. He’s not a jerk though, so he digs out a couple of pounds and pushes them into the now empty hand.  
  
  
He finds Harry when Harry grabs his arm.

He smiles at Louis and then asks if they should head out and get some fresh air, and Louis agrees.  
  
“Where were you?” Louis asks as soon as they are outside, and Harry smiles.  
  
“No need to scream, we’re outside now.” Harry answers, which is weird, since Louis isn’t screaming. “Just went to the loo.”  
  
“I went looking for you!” Louis informs.  
  
“And now you found me.” Harry says with a smile, and Louis nods, because yes, he did.  
  
It’s cold outside though, and Louis tells Harry so.  
The problem is, they’ve left their jackets in the coat check, and it costs money, and if they pick them up now, they’ll have to pay the fee _again_ when they go back inside.  
  
“You feeling okay?” Harry asks, and Louis nods dazedly before he gasps.  
  
“Oh my god Liam likes a boy!” He shrieks, because Harry doesn’t know yet. He doesn’t seem very surprised. “Harry!” Louis yells, grabbing his shirt and shaking him a little. “Liam danced with a dude and wants to kiss him! He’s gonna have his first gay experience tonight! Oh my god!”

“Okay, well that’s, I mean. That’s good, is it not?” He asks, enveloping Louis’ hands in his and making him release the fabric.

“You do not understand how straight Liam is.” Louis responds with a sigh. “Wouldn’t even let me blow him.”  


Louis’ phone vibrates against his thigh at that moment, so he pulls it out and sees a text from Liam.  
  
 _‘I’m going home with zayn? So like, don’t wait up? But I wont have sex I swear!!!!!’_  
  
Louis reads it three times, before shoving the phone in Harry’s face. “Oh my god, Harry look! Liam’s having sex tonight!”  
  
  
  
  
It’s not much later, when Harry decided that they should go home.

“I slept at yours last night, so you sleep at mine tonight.” Louis says because that’s only fair. “In my bed.” He adds. "Oh, and by the way, did you know that the key was on the kitchen counter _not_ the coffee table? But I forgive you for your mistake.”  
Harry doesn’t really answer, but he bites back a smile, so he takes it as a yes.

He has a tight grip on Harry’s arm though, just in case.  
  
Harry does follow Louis into the flat willingly, even follows him into the bedroom, but he just stands still as Louis undresses.  
This definitely does not fit into Louis’ plan.  
   
“Well you know where my stash is.” He says casually as he wriggles and stumbles out of his jeans.

“I’m not sleeping with you, Louis.” Harry says, and Louis stops with his thumbs hooked into his boxers.

“You’re not gay?” He asks, disappointment flooding his mind.

“I’m bi actually, but that’s not-”

“Taken?”

“No. But Louis, you’re really drunk.”

“I’m not!” He tries to stomp his foot but somehow misses the ground and stumbles instead. “I’m clumsy!”

“Just go to sleep, yeah?  We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Is this you trying to let me down gently?” Louis asks, pouting that one pout that always makes Liam do his laundry for him.

“No, this is me trying to not end up being a one night stand.” He says, and then undresses and crawls into Louis’ bed.

“But I’ve wanted you since I met you! Well, that’s not actually true, since I don’t remember that, _but!_   I’ve wanted you since you brought me breakfast on your couch!” He crawls into bed as well, still in his boxers.  
  
“Then you’ll still want me tomorrow.” Harry reasons.

Logic is shit.  

“You better fucking want me too, then.” He says as he shuffles his body closer to Harry’s and rests his head on his chest.  
Harry chuckles, his hand going up to stroke the fringe out of his eyes.

Louis is still mumbling complaints as he falls asleep.  
  
  
He doesn’t complain, however, when he wakes up the next morning with Harry’s lips wrapped around him.    



End file.
